The afternoon passed more quickly than the morning; perhaps preparing us for the beginning of Daylight Saving Time this weekend. Or, it could have been that we saw only two single, northbound Gray whales before noon.

What we saw most was lots and lots of Common dolphins and one Bottlenose dolphin, spread out two miles deep and two moles wide, with at least fifteen hundred Commons. And, amidst all that dolphining, we sighted two different Harbor seals! That is the first time this season that we have been able to establish that there was more than a single Harbor seal sighted on the day.

In the afternoon we saw more whales behaving a bit differently than usual on this clear-no-wind day in the Santa Barbara Channel. They all stopped blowing for long periods. Maybe it was all those dolphins or maybe the natural oil seeps were gurgling in a scary way.

For most of their progress across Counter Point, surfacings were limited to one, occasionally, two blows each. Then down for fifteen, sometimes more than twenty or so minutes. It was very hard to track them and determine how many there were in the groups. We were grateful that the afternoon sun lit up what blows they made and helped us in our counting.

Gray whales northbound (all) 14 | Calves 0 — 2015 Count 175 | 000

Hours 8:00